Café Monet is tucked away in a sunny courtyard on Remuera Road, a friendly spot that is part of the everyday routine of many Newmarket locals and has been for twenty-four years. We spent some time with Anton Lumpert, to find out what happens in a day in the life of this iconic café owner...

4:30AM

The day starts for our family at 4:30am, six days a week. We have an assortment of in season fruit, veges and herbs that are harvested from our spray-free orchard in Karaka. We load the produce for transport to Café Monet every morning. We use as much of our own produce in everything we create.

6:00AM

It’s all hands on deck in the café! Our head chef sets up the kitchen for breakfast and our barista Ashis gets the coffee machine prepped for the day. My father Stanislav sets up the courtyard with umbrellas and furniture. My mother Maureen and I stock the fridges, fruit, vegetables and bread supplies. Next, we get on to organising table layouts, bookings and the other hundred and one things to get done early in the morning.

7:00AM

I am then out the front every day greeting and serving our customers. Service is paramount to me and we have an overflow of customers in for their early takeaway coffees and a continual flow of people all morning. Along with breakfast and brunch. Monet has a terrific team, all with the same objective of providing great service, coffee and food to create the best ambience possible. Our family has a European background so we serve many different family recipes which extend from soups, mains and desserts with fresh seasonal produce always a feature on our menu.

12:00PM

Lunch usually starts and is full-on until around 2:30pm with customers enjoying our sunny courtyard.

3:00PM

Our head chef checks on the savoury and patisserie preparation for the next day and our barista checks his coffee supplies. In the afternoon, Maureen takes care of the administrative matters and the café clean- up gets underway. I am usually busy checking stock, ordering and picking up products and desperately trying to get home for quality time with my 18 month old, Dominic.

SUNDAY

Sundays are when I can spend time with my family along with any maintenance required on the orchard, it’s a beautiful environment in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Newmarket.

55 Remuera Road | 09 522 2050